In his own words: Kevin Hewick must be one of the ultimate "I could write a book about it" people... but I don't think I ever will because who'd want to read it ? Then again you are reading this so...
So there came the inevitable guitar and, after making rather slow and poor progress at learning to play it, some very ramshackle bands with school friends. My five year spell at Countesthorpe College sent me totally off or on the rails, depending on which way you look at it... We're all haunted by our Schooldays and adolescense, sure, but Countesthorpe was just mind blowing and my experiences there set me on the course I still follow to this day.
Joy Division, New Order and Adrian Borland
From Countesthorpe to the dole to working in a social security office was hardly a thrilling transition. Fortunately parallel to these depressing personal events PUNK ROCK came to save-or was it deprave- my soul !! So I did lots of tapes in my bedroom and sent them off to various labels and one of them appealed to Tony Wilson and before I knew it the Joy Division obsessed bedroom tape maker I was became a Joy Division support act.
I suppose this is the greatest of the...er..."Kevin Hewick myths" that is actually true...my first ever recording session was with Hook, Morris and Sumner a month after Ian Curtis's death. Totally unrehearsed, and with me in awe of the former Joy Divisioners, the session wasn't a great success.
Kevin aslo recorded an EP with the late Adrian Borland, frontman of The Sound. In February 2001, he played on the Adrian Borland tribute concert in Het Patronaat in Haarlem.
Good times at Factory
I had some good times at Factory-playing in Finland and Sweden was wonderful- touring with Durutti Column was fantastic- the pleasure of getting to know (a bit) people like Vini Reilly, Peter Hook and even, sometimes, Tony Wilson was fab gear...but things like the "Joy Division" session, the live "Factory Quartet" LP with tracks chosen against my wishes) and the almost 100% critical crucifixion I got in the national rock press (maybe better than the 100% ignoring me they do now !) made my "square peg in a round hole" departure from Factory inevitable...and so I "defected" to Cherry Red and got things like an album and a single and an EP out really quickly and watched them sell really slowly and...lost my way - artistically and personally.
I call it my "black hole period." I sincerely hope that you never have a "black hole period."
If you ever do...all I can say is...try to hang on...try to survive it...even if it takes years...
I never dreamed I'd write again, perform again, make records again- but I have, and I am...even if it is on a far more modest scale than my Factory/Cherry Red past. For the thousandth time I must say what I do now is far more focussed, far more interesting than what I did then. I clawed myself out of the "black hole" in my own curious way, but in the end I did it...
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